hundreds of bristle worms!!

phliguy

Member
This is a 225 reef tank that is in the works and all i have in is live rock, no fish no corals.
I leave over the weekend and come back and
have noticed almost all my hermit crabs dead and several large bristle worms around the bottom and little patches of 1" long worms that look like they were just hatched recently. I knew that i had at least 1 bristle worm and was reading up making a trap from garf and now that i have literally hundereds in the tank i need to know the best way to get rid of them,..
Anything i can buy that will eat them besides a racoon ?
These things give me the willys
Phil
 

harris

Member
I heard that a nice arrow crab might eat the bristle worms if you do not feed him enough. Again "heard" I wouldn't doubt it too much. But if your tank is not cured don't bother to throw anyting in, it will just die. I also heard some panty hose in the water will snag them.
I say heard because my 29 gal reef is worm free, but I do have some weird things going on like the tentacles that come out of the rock that I read earlier on this board.
Later.
 

laneki

Member
Over the last three weeks I have been bristle worm hunting and to my luck, succeeded. I have read both sides of the story on these guys; some say they are good if you have a live sand bed (info on this site) and others say bristle worms can be harmful. Personally, I don't like the things...

There are traps sold at some pet stores, but all you really need is patience and a pair of nylon pantyhose! Using the foot portion of the hose, stick a piece of fish food in the back securing it with a rubberband. Bristle worms love to seek food. The next best bet is to get a pair of tweezers and grab them as they are coming out of hiding. They seem to be intelligent and sense changes in light.
Good luck!
 
Top